By showing us what happened in the life of Job, God shares amazing insights that allow us to understand life just a little bit better. Having the book of Job is a little bit like having the playbook of the opposing team. We see the strategy of the enemy – satan – that old accuser. The playbook diagrams the attacks and the hoped for devastation in the life of the believer.
And so with playbook in hand, God prepares us for the struggles and trials. We are pointed time and again to God’s reassurance and presence. He’s there to help us persevere in the face of calamity. When fear comes because everything that can possibly go wrong, has - God brings us comfort.
Life can be rugged. No one is better qualified to make this observation than the fellow that spoke the words in today’s Old Testament Lesson - Job. Now here’s a person that went through the wringer. You see, Job had it all, and then, as the subject of a divine object lesson, he lost it all. Job was a man who was incredibly wealthy. He had been blessed with a large family and a position of honor among his countrymen. And he was also a godly man. He worshipped God with a sincere and humble heart. God Himself says of Job: “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.” (Job 1:8b) The Lord and Job had a relationship characterized by intimacy.
Satan – the accuser – was out to change that. He runs one of his favorite plays from his evil playbook. He assails Job before God. He tells God that the only reason that Job loves Him is because of the many blessings that God has given to him. And so God permits satan to test Job – to take away his wealth, his children, his health. At the end of this Job is utterly devastated. And if the suffering that Job endured were not bad enough, three patronizing, self-important “friends” come circling around - supposedly to comfort him. And it is while all these dramatic events are whirling around him that Job speaks the words in our Old Testament lesson. Let’s read them together. [Read Job 7:1-7 here]
Wow! Can you tell that this man was in agony? The sheer desperation that Job felt is perhaps best expressed by the last verse: “Remember, my life is only a breath, and never again will my eyes see anything good.” Job was going through a crucible – a severe test of life and faith. Everything that most people consider important was gone – dead, stolen, or destroyed. Job’s grief was such that he even began to wonder out loud whether God was being fair to him. And this doubt about God was perhaps the most difficult part of his trial.
Did you notice the strategy that satan used to attack Job? First, the attack - he puts the believer through a trial. We saw the full bag of tricks come out against Job. He attacked the three F’s - family, finances and the flesh. Any one of those would be enough – but Job gets blasted with all three. After the attack comes an attempt to cause despair and hopelessness. To accomplish this, satan wanted Job to focus only on the trial - the unfairness of what he was suffering.
The net effect of the enemy’s actions is to try to separate us from God. His goal is to get believers – you and me, beloved - to lose our trust in God. When the trial comes, satan is there to make us think that God doesn’t care. He wants us to think that God is a fair weather friend – to doubt God’s love - to think that we’re on our own. Sound familiar? Does this sound like something that you’ve faced?
Listen, I’ve got good news for you. God doesn’t abandon us. If it seems that we are going through the struggles alone, it is because we haven’t learned to recognize God’s presence. When life is good, we’re so busy, so preoccupied, so engaged with so many things that we don’t have much room for God. And so when the trial comes, and we’re in agony – when we want to see God - even if He’s there – we haven’t a clue. We’re just not accustomed to recognizing his presence.
It takes intimacy with God to create the wellspring of faith. You see, even though Job’s pain and despair were indescribable, yet, the Scriptures say that: “In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.” Job’s suffering was so great that his wife told him to curse God so that he would die and be out of his misery. But Job replied: “ ‘Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?’ ” And so, “In all this,” say the Scriptures, “Job did not sin in what he said.” (Job 1:22, 2:10b)
It is wonderful to see the saints endure trials with unfettered faith in God. But it takes intimacy with God to be able to do this. It takes knowing Him like a dear friend. When that relationship of intimacy exists, God draws and woos and calls those that are his children.
Let me share a story with you. Many years ago, as a newly appointed elder of El Buen Pastor Lutheran Church, I got a call from the pastor. A ten year-old boy had just died. He asked me to make a call on the boy’s grandmother – a long-time, faithful member of the congregation. Comfort her, he told me. I was nervous – I mean, how do you comfort a person who has just lost a loved one? I didn’t know what to say.
When I called Dora, I told her how sorry I was for her loss. I must have been stammering. And it is here that the depth and breadth of the character and faith of this godly woman came through. She shared her confidence and trust in God with me. Job’s words: “Remember, my life is only a breath, and never again will my eyes see anything good,” - these words were very real to her. She was hurting. And yet this woman had a wellspring of hope and comfort and peace. This reservoir of trust in God had been filled by years of connecting to God through his Church, his Word, his Sacraments. And so this frail warrior, this woman of God, began to put me – the elder - at ease. Her depth of trust and faith in God were crystal clear. And she was aware of God’s presence as she passed through her trial.
When we are going through the trial, it is hard to see the good in it. But God has promised to work eternal good for us, even through the trials that we face. Let me read you one of St. Augustine’s thoughts. He says, “Since God is the highest good, He would not allow any evil to exist in His works, unless His omnipotence and goodness were such as to bring good even out of evil.” (Enchiridion xi) And so we see that one reason that evil exists is so that God can turn it into a blessing - like the suffering and Cross of Christ that God turned into the redemption of humanity.
St. Thomas Aquinas, another of the great theologians, writes: “This is part of the infinite goodness of God, that He should allow evil to exist, and out of it produce good.” (Summa Theologica, Pt. I, Q 2, Art. 3) Like Augustine, Aquinas sees the virtue that God can work out of sorrows and trials that we face.
It is reassuring to hear exactly the same thought from two brilliant, God-fearing men. But listen, this great truth is also powerfully confirmed in Scripture. St. Paul writes: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-17)
Knowing God and being in a continual and intimate relationship with Him is how we survive the trials, beloved. You see, for believers, the issue is not one of salvation – Jesus settled that some 2000 years ago on the cross. Through the Gospel and our Baptism – like Stephanie’s Baptism today - God has made us his. He has promised to be with us and to give us the confidence to confess like Kind David in the Psalm: “To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul; in you I trust, O my God. Do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me. No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame…” (Psalm 25:1-3a)
When satan came to God to accuse Job, the evil one had no clue that by bringing evil into the life of Job – God would glorify Himself through the faithfulness of his servant.
Many years later, satan made the ultimate blunder by assailing another – Jesus Christ. He leveled all barrels at Jesus – and you know the story: Christ was pushed through a sham of a trial. He was beaten. He was crucified. He was killed and buried. The evil one bit off more than he could chew with Jesus, though. He didn’t know that light would shine in that sepulcher – that the holy, innocent One - Jesus Christ - would rise from the dead. And so God brought the ultimate good out of the ultimate evil – Jesus and his Cross and Resurrection would be the salvation of humanity.
And now, beloved, if you are going through the trial – if the enemy has tried to bring you to despair – listen – listen to these words from St. Paul:
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. (2 Corinthians 4:6-10)
That is my hope, beloved. I pray that it be yours too. Amen.
